Muscat – Mangalore Direct flight
Report by Clarence & Jane Ida Pinto - Daijiworld News Network Muscat
Muscat, Nov 12: Just few days back, when Air India Express commenced its direct flight from Dubai to Mangalore, it transformed a long awaited dream into joyful reality and then, Mangalore became an International Airport. Since then, the representatives of the Indian Expatriate community in the Sultanate of Oman have come together, formed a forum under the aegis of Indian Social Club and worked relentlessly to inspire the concerned authorities to commence a direct flight from to Mangalore.
In this direction, the steering committee headed by Dr. Satish Nambiar, Honorary Chairman of Indian Social Club, Francis Aranha, Manager, In-flight Catering Operations - Oman Air and Shaukath H Assadi, Country Manager of Oman Oil Marketing Company, three prominent members of the Coastal Karnataka Expatriates, have forwarded a Memorandum to Ziad Al Haremi, Chief Executive Officer of Oman Air with a request to commence a direct flight to Mangalore from Seeb International Airport - Muscat. The memorandum was submitted through Edward Grauvogl, Divisional Manager (Commercial), Oman Air at a ceremony held at Oman Air Head Quarters this afternoon.
The newly formed steering committee has prominent personalities and businessmen of Coastal Karnataka and Northern Kerala origin. They are Ashok Suvarna – National Publishing and Advertising, S. K. Poojary - Al Nargis Trading, Pitamber Alke, Nasser Lashko Group, Ramesh Shettigar – Oman Arab Bank, Aftab Kola – Times of Oman, S. M. Qamar, Mohammed Ashfaq – Shama Stores, Stanley Fernandes – Ijaal Trading and Babu Rajendran – Kanoo Group.
Memorandum represented the Indian community from coastal Karnataka and Northern Kerala, with more than 50,000 residents in Oman including their relatives and dependents. Memorandum has strongly emphasized the potential of exporting good amount of cargo from Mangalore airport to Oman, namely fruits, vegetables, fish and flowers on daily basis. It has been mentioned in the memorandum to utilize Mangalore for Omani citizens in the field of education. Mangalore has been offering great opportunities in education of all disciplines to the world.
Dr.SatishNambiar, FrancisAranha and ShaukathAssadi
In an exclusive interview to Daijiworld.com team, Dr. Satish Nambiar has expressed his desire to work relentlessly with the concerned authorities to fulfill the long standing dream of Coastal Karnataka people living in Oman.
Excerpts of the interview :
DW : What are you immediate plans to inspire Air India Express or Oman Air to start direct flights to Mangalore?
Dr. Satish Nambiar : Our basic contention is to have a direct flight from Muscat to Mangalore. That is our goal. To fulfill this goal, we are continuously talking to Oman Air and also, Ministry of Civil Aviation of India. Being Indians, we have loyalty to our National Carrier. In the same time, we too have certain loyalty to the host country, Sultanate of Oman. Hence, we are working on both sides; with both carriers. In fact, it is a barter system between the countries, and hopefully our request will be honored very soon.
DW : What will be the frequency of flights you expect ?
Dr. Satish Nambiar : We want to have every day one flight but hopefully, we should be able to get at least three flights a week. This can be increased later stage, considering the passenger flow and cargo load.
DW : Have you received any positive reply from Oman Air or Ministry of Civil Aviation?
Dr. Satish Nambiar : Since we are here in Oman, we were able to talk to the Commercial Manager of Oman Air, Edward Grauvogl . We are pleased to inform that he has been very, very positive. They are happy to start the flights to Mangalore. But, negotiations should go on between the authorities of Oman and India. Landing rights to be discussed, agreed and allocated with Government of India.
As per as the information we have, Oman Air got aircrafts ready. Aircrafts those suit Mangalore airport. They have flying time available for these aircrafts and I am happy to inform that Oman Air is looking Mangalore in a very positive way and as a destination of favorable choice.
DW : Based on current negotiations, when do you think, Coastal Karnataka people will have a privilege to fly directly to Mangalore?
Dr. Satish Nambiar : We wish and pray that should happen next week only. But, it will not happen next week. We hope that at least by New Year something should happen.
DW : Do you have any promise from Oman Air?
Dr. Satish Nambiar : No. They have promised to look into the matter positively. The talks between both Governments will take place very soon, ie as early as next week and we are hoping to get some good news.
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